1. Lessons are expensive
2. Take a lesson anyway. It is more expensive to waste time during your extremely pricey trip trying to figure out how to stand on a snowboard, just because you wanna save a hundred bucks.
3. Waterproof clothing – so important
4. You eat snow a lot when you first start learning to ski/board
5. Bring muscle ache patches – whiplash in your neck from falling on your face is REAL and PAINFUL
6. Actually, scrap that. Your whole body will be in pain.
7. Snowboarding is more of a cardio workout than Skiing
8. Everyone says skiing is easier but I find the opposite to be true
9. You eat like a monster when you do snow sports. You get so so so hungry everyday. Give up any no/low carb diet youre thinking of embarking on before the trip.
10. Fleece is water resistant, kinda
11. Snow sports are a really expensive hobby so pick it up only if you have a stable job
Eg. A daily ski pass is about 50 bucks. Then you pay for gear rental. Then you pay for jacked up food prices. Then you pay for beer, because you think you deserve it everyday.
12. Snow sport attire – turtleneck heat tech, water resistant hoodie, waterproof ski jacket, heat tech leggings, waterproof ski pants, face mask, ski goggles, beanie, snoot.
13. A big appeal of snowboarding is the fact that your board doesnt pop out when you fall down. It is a pain to retrieve and put your skis back on, especially on a slope.
14. A big con of skiing is the fear of snapping your leg, which apparnetly happens a lot to people who fall on their skis or ski into trees
15. However, a big appeal of skiing is many people can stand and kind of move immediately, whereas a lot of time on the snowboard is spent on one’s ass
16. However however, snowboarding is cooler, lol
17. Skincare is so important on the slopes
18. Sunscreen is even more important on the slopes
19. Metal is kind of sticky to your skin at very cold temperatures, and painful to touch, and I learnt this the hard way trying to grab my ski poles without gloves on
20. Normal gloves wont do, you need water resistant gloves
21. Actually, the term ‘water resistant’ will be your best friend in the snow
22. There is no better feeling than soaking in an onsen after a day on the slopes
23. The sooner you embrace that you’ll fall on your face a lot, the happier you’ll be. Everyone falls down when learning. It’s fine.
24. You learn to appreciate pockets a lot
25. It’s almost impossible to look good when learning to ski/board, no matter how many photos of instagrammers looking glamorous on the slopes you see
26. Dont bother bringing your camera, you’ll break it. Use your phone for photos if need be, otherwise, just enjoy the view.
x
Jem